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Contents

New Ground 172

May — June, 2017

The Hoi Polloi United by Leonard Pierce
The annual Debs-Thomas-Harrington Dinner is one of Chicago DSA’s oldest and most honored traditions, and it closed out its sixth decade in high style on Friday, May 19th, 2017.

Taxing Sin or Bringing the Poor to HEAL? by Leonard Pierce
The Illinois Public Health Institute’s Illinois Alliance to Prevent Obesity is currently backing House Bill 2667, known as the HEAL (Healthy Eating, Active Living) Act. The bill would impose a tax of a penny per ounce on soda and other sugary drinks, including powders, syrups, and beverages sold at retail level. The tax would be imposed on distributors, and the majority of funds would be earmarked for the Illinois Wellness Fund.

Chicago DSA Mobilizes by Bob Roman
It was just days before our annual Debs-Thomas-Harrington Dinner when we got an email from a DSA member on the staff of the Communication Workers of America. Union members at some AT&T divisions had been working without a contract for up to a year and wanted to end management stalling on negotiations. Another sore point was the frequent outsourcing of work to overseas call centers. To that end, they were declaring a three-day strike for that weekend. Could we help with the picket lines in Chicago?

Lessons from the 1937 Republic Steel Memorial Day Massacre by Susan Hirsch
on the South Side of Chicago, members of the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) and its retirees commemorated the 80th anniversary of the Memorial Day Massacre. In 1937, as the Steel Workers’ Organizing Committee (SWOC) attempted to unionize the steel industry, ten strikers were killed and scores wounded when Chicago police opened fire on peaceful protesters at the Republic Steel Plant. Both the reasons the massacre occurred and the response to it suggest to me the magnitude of what has to be done today to reverse the decline in our nation’s minimal protections for the life and well-being of our citizens.